RESEARCH STORIES AND NEWS

Engineers at Oregon State are making strides with a two-legged robot dubbed ATRIAS, designed to delve into the complexities of animal locomotion. Equipped with such capabilities, robots will serve a variety of practical needs.

A new pigment discovered by accident is stable, relatively non-toxic, reflects infrared energy and may help to cool buildings and reduce air conditioning costs. And it can be “tuned,” says the researcher, to produce a range of shades from sky blue to nearly black.

Mangroves are the penultimate “carbon sinks” (places that absorb more carbon and other greenhouse gasses than they release), in some cases holding onto five times as much carbon as upland forests long known to be important carbon storehouses.